Johannes Letzmann

Johannes Peter Letzmann (b. July 19, 1885 in Russian Livonia, d. May 21, 1971 on Langeoog) was an Estonian meteorologist, and a pioneering tornado researcher. His prolific output related to severe storms concepts included: developing tornado damage studies, atmospheric vortices, theoretical studies and laboratory simulations, tornado case studies, and observation programs. It generated extensive analysis techniques and insights on tornadoes at a time when there was still very little research on the subject in the United States.cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Richard E. |title=Johannes Letzmann: A Pioneer in the Study of Tornadoes |journal=Weather and Forecasting |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=166–84 |publisher=American Meteorological Society |date=Mar 1992 |url=http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0434(1992)007%3C0166%3AJLAPIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2 |year=1992 |doi=10.1175/1520-0434(1992)007<0166:JLAPIT>2.0.CO;2 |doilabel=10.1175/1520-0434(1992)0070166:JLAPIT2.0.CO;2 ] cite journal |last=Doswell |first=Charles A., III |authorlink=Charles A. Doswell, III |title=Historical overview of severe convective storms research |journal=Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology |volume=2 |issue=1 |publisher=E-Journals of Meteorology |date=Winter 2007 |url=http://ejssm.org/ojs/index.php/ejssm/issue/view/4 ]

Biography

From 1906 to 1913 he attended the University of Tartu in Tartu, Estonia, studying meteorology. His career studying tornadoes began in 1918 when the esteemed visiting scientist Alfred Wegener introduced him to his copious European tornado climatological and other studies. The University of Helsinki awarded Letzmann a PhD in 1924. Most of his studies were done at Dorpat (Tartu), but he did travel with Wegener for a year in 1928 to the University of Graz. His research was interrupted by the rise of Nazism and World War II, after the war he remained in Austria and faded to obscurity. Three years before his death he elected to retire to a hostel established for former Baltic Germans at Langeoog, an island off the North Sea coast of Germany.

References

See also

* John Park Finley

External links

* [http://www.tordach.org/pdf/letzwww.pdf Richtlinien zur Erforschung von Tromben, Tornados, Wasserhosen und Kleintromben]
*
* [http://elib.dlr.de/21595/ Alfred Wegener's tornado research and his influence on Johannes Letzmann: Scientific achievements decades ahead of their time]
* [http://www.tordach.org/ Center of Competence for Severe Local Storms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (TorDACH)]
* [http://www.essl.org/ European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL)]

For further reading

* H. Eelsalu, H. Tooming, Eds. (1995). "Meteorology in Estonia in Johannes Letzmann's times and today". ISBN 9985-50-111-X. Tallinn.